Monday, May 15, 2006
Weekend in Datong
Dad decided to give us an early birthday present! :) After just one week back after the May break, we were back on the road...to Datong in Shanxi province.
Friday night, we packed a few little bags and heading in to BJ to meet up with our tour group. We went early to have a little date before we got on the train to Datong. Mike & I went to Sizzler's near Jianguomen, just around the corner from the Beijing Friendship Store. Mike had steak (his first in China) and me...I had veggies of course! But the best part was dessert...next door at the Haagen Dazs store. Yumm! I had raspberry sorbet (sour, just like the real thing from my grandmother's berry patch) and Mike had tiramisu and cookies & cream ice cream. :)
We got to the meeting location a little early (we were meeting at 9:30pm), so I took the chance to head to the WC for a washroom break. Well, I couldn't figure out how to get the light to work, then it eventually came on, so I went in and didn't really think about it ... It was a traditional "squatter" toilet (doesn't bother me, when you have to go...you do your thing)...the problem was that I was using the washroom when the light suddenly vanished! It was one of those motion sensor lights, lol. Well, since I was "squatting", I wasn't able to make any motion to get it to come back on! And it was pitch black, so I wasn't sure if my aim was okay. I yelled for Mike to help me and after a minute of laughing, he clapped for the light to come on. Grrr! It was actually funny (but after the fact), lol :)
The rest of the weekend was nice :) We spent Friday night on the train, woke up Saturday morning in Datong and headed to the Hanging Monastery. Whoa!! Scary for me :S ...I'm afraid of heights, so Mike thought it was hysterical that I took baby steps & gripped on anything I could find the entire time. And, good for me that I managed to keep breakfast down! Wheeee! The Monastery was very tiny, with little winding passages, stairways & balconies leading from room to room. There was even a room with statues of Sakyamuni, Confucius & Laotzu (Buddhism, Confucianism & Taoism), all together. They say it is very unusual to see the sharing of the same monastery; religions living in harmony within the same structure. It was very special & pretty, once you got past the being on the side of a mountain :)
In the afternoon, our group went to the Wooden Pagoda just outside of Datong. It's about 1,000 years old and has no nails holding it together. I had the feeling that I was going to fall through the floor at any time, lol! The grounds around the pagoda were nice to wander through and Mike & I did some bargaining...we found some odd little pieces of art for our apartment in Tuanli.
After supper that night, eight of us from the tour went for a foot massage at Relax Time, a place not too far from the hotel. We were all pretty worn out from all the walking. It was quite funny though, because we were all in this big room when this army of people came in to give us our massages. What was supposed to be just the feet turned into an all-out, practically every body part massage. The guy stuck his fingers in my ears, lol! They also asked if they could take photos of us for their brochures :) And after it was all over, they all insisted on having their pictures taken with us. They pulled me down the hallway to pose in front of a plant, by a staircase, in the front hall, in individual shots & in group photos...LOL! After tons of pictures, smiles & handshakes, they escorted us out the door into waiting taxis and sent us on our way. :)
Our last morning in Datong was spent at the Yungang Grotto, an amazing spot outside of Datong City, where they have many caves with Buddhas carved inside. One was so huge, I stood staring up at it with my head all the way back. Its thumbnail was two-times bigger than my head! The work that took place...wow! It just made me want to cry though, because all of the coal dust has done so much damage. In one of the caves, the eyes of the statue were glistening from the shadows & light of people entering...I stood there for so long just watching the twinkle in the eyes; the statue looked as though it was about to cry at any moment.
The time had come to board our train back to Beijing :( I slept through most of it, like usual. But when I was awake I took some pictures of Mike up above me...I had the middle bunk & he had the top bunk, lol. We were like little kids at camp :)
Tomorrow at work, the China Youth Daily newspaper is coming to visit me! I'm teaching yoga tomorrow at lunch and they want to take photos...I'll post any pics if they use them in the paper :) I'm constantly amazed at all the things that happen to me here in China...
Friday night, we packed a few little bags and heading in to BJ to meet up with our tour group. We went early to have a little date before we got on the train to Datong. Mike & I went to Sizzler's near Jianguomen, just around the corner from the Beijing Friendship Store. Mike had steak (his first in China) and me...I had veggies of course! But the best part was dessert...next door at the Haagen Dazs store. Yumm! I had raspberry sorbet (sour, just like the real thing from my grandmother's berry patch) and Mike had tiramisu and cookies & cream ice cream. :)
We got to the meeting location a little early (we were meeting at 9:30pm), so I took the chance to head to the WC for a washroom break. Well, I couldn't figure out how to get the light to work, then it eventually came on, so I went in and didn't really think about it ... It was a traditional "squatter" toilet (doesn't bother me, when you have to go...you do your thing)...the problem was that I was using the washroom when the light suddenly vanished! It was one of those motion sensor lights, lol. Well, since I was "squatting", I wasn't able to make any motion to get it to come back on! And it was pitch black, so I wasn't sure if my aim was okay. I yelled for Mike to help me and after a minute of laughing, he clapped for the light to come on. Grrr! It was actually funny (but after the fact), lol :)
The rest of the weekend was nice :) We spent Friday night on the train, woke up Saturday morning in Datong and headed to the Hanging Monastery. Whoa!! Scary for me :S ...I'm afraid of heights, so Mike thought it was hysterical that I took baby steps & gripped on anything I could find the entire time. And, good for me that I managed to keep breakfast down! Wheeee! The Monastery was very tiny, with little winding passages, stairways & balconies leading from room to room. There was even a room with statues of Sakyamuni, Confucius & Laotzu (Buddhism, Confucianism & Taoism), all together. They say it is very unusual to see the sharing of the same monastery; religions living in harmony within the same structure. It was very special & pretty, once you got past the being on the side of a mountain :)
In the afternoon, our group went to the Wooden Pagoda just outside of Datong. It's about 1,000 years old and has no nails holding it together. I had the feeling that I was going to fall through the floor at any time, lol! The grounds around the pagoda were nice to wander through and Mike & I did some bargaining...we found some odd little pieces of art for our apartment in Tuanli.
After supper that night, eight of us from the tour went for a foot massage at Relax Time, a place not too far from the hotel. We were all pretty worn out from all the walking. It was quite funny though, because we were all in this big room when this army of people came in to give us our massages. What was supposed to be just the feet turned into an all-out, practically every body part massage. The guy stuck his fingers in my ears, lol! They also asked if they could take photos of us for their brochures :) And after it was all over, they all insisted on having their pictures taken with us. They pulled me down the hallway to pose in front of a plant, by a staircase, in the front hall, in individual shots & in group photos...LOL! After tons of pictures, smiles & handshakes, they escorted us out the door into waiting taxis and sent us on our way. :)
Our last morning in Datong was spent at the Yungang Grotto, an amazing spot outside of Datong City, where they have many caves with Buddhas carved inside. One was so huge, I stood staring up at it with my head all the way back. Its thumbnail was two-times bigger than my head! The work that took place...wow! It just made me want to cry though, because all of the coal dust has done so much damage. In one of the caves, the eyes of the statue were glistening from the shadows & light of people entering...I stood there for so long just watching the twinkle in the eyes; the statue looked as though it was about to cry at any moment.
The time had come to board our train back to Beijing :( I slept through most of it, like usual. But when I was awake I took some pictures of Mike up above me...I had the middle bunk & he had the top bunk, lol. We were like little kids at camp :)
Tomorrow at work, the China Youth Daily newspaper is coming to visit me! I'm teaching yoga tomorrow at lunch and they want to take photos...I'll post any pics if they use them in the paper :) I'm constantly amazed at all the things that happen to me here in China...
# posted by Kirsten (of course!) @ 2:42 p.m. 
